Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)

The Special Group on Public Service Numbers and Expenditure Programmes was established by the Minister for Finance to examine current expenditure programmes in each Department and to make recommendations for reducing public service numbers to facilitate a return to sustainable public finances.

At the special group's request, my Department submitted an evaluation report on the various schemes and services operated by the Department as well as expenditure trends, to facilitate the group's examination of my Department's expenditure. The evaluation report described the Department's work, identified some key policy issues and provided a range of options for changes in schemes and services to assist the special group in its deliberations.

Those options were not advanced as the proposals of the Department but as items which might be technically feasible within the parameters of given schemes or across schemes. Some of the options identified are mutually exclusive. Others interact with each other, often in a complex way. The cumulative impact of proposals on various categories of social welfare recipients also have to be taken into account. Finally, some options, as indicated by my Department, might need to be reconciled with wider Government policies, such as policies to promote employment, education or training.

The document prepared by the Department has been made available to individuals who sought its release under the Freedom of Information Act, including the Fine Gael leader's office. It has also been published on the website of the Department of Finance and can be accessed at www.finance.gov.ie.

As per the FOI guidelines, certain material has been withheld from publication as it concerns matters relating to the deliberative process which were not put forward as proposals by the special group. The deliberative process is ongoing for the upcoming budget and the Estimates process. In this context, and giving due regard to the public interest, it was considered to be inappropriate to publish certain elements of the document prepared by the Department at this stage.

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